Rivalry week started a bit early this year for USC and UCLA, the trash-talking commencing a few minutes past 6 p.m. Thursday after the Trojans ambushed poor Cal on a clear, crisp, cloudless night at the Coliseum.

By the time George Farmer hauled in a 33-yard touchdown pass from Cody Kessler just over seven minutes into the first quarter, you could almost hear the Trojans uttering the words, “Bring on the Bruins.”

It wasn’t that blatant, of course. The Trojans have too much respect for Cal to literally check out that early in a nationally televised Pac-12 Conference game with significant implications.

Out of sheer obligation, USC played out the remaining three and a half quarters, but like an All-America running back no longer concerned about the oncoming defender directly in front of him — the guy he already knows he’s got beat — its attention immediately shifted to the guy standing right behind Cal.

That would be UCLA.

“I can’t wait,” Farmer said.

But not before USC delivered a statement that bounced along the skyscrapers peeking over the Coliseum a few miles away in downtown Los Angeles, then echoed west on the 10 freeway and north on the 405 before exiting Wilshire Boulevard and hanging a left at Westwood.

“Come out, come out wherever you are,” was the gist of the message the Trojans sent their neighbors 13 miles away.

“Emotions are high,” Farmer said. “They’re your arch-rivals and you never want to see your arch-rival victorious.”

If the Bruins could, they would have strapped on their shoulder pads and helmets and obliged. It would have made for a much more compelling night of football than USC’s 38-30 win over the Cal — even with the second-half rally by the Bears that distorted the final margin.

But enough about the Golden Bears. They were simply the tomato can USC had to kick out of the way en route to a legitimate bout.

It’s all about UCLA now, and don’t think for a minute the Bruins weren’t watching Thursday or itching to join their rivals in the ring.

In fact, some good-natured trash talk was already coming out of Westwood. With the Bruins on a bye week, their focus – and words – were already aimed at the Trojans.

Not that USC seemed surprised.

“Not the slightest,” chuckled Trojans running back Justin Davis, who vowed a different approach on his end.

“We at USC are going to be humble about it,” he added, smiling.

Then again, eight days is a long time to hold your tongue.

Either way, the Trojans have a brawl on their hands,

UCLA no longer fears USC or cowers at the sight of its crosstown foe.

The Bruins stand eye-to-eye with the Trojans, and these days getting one to blink before the other is about as difficult as avoiding one of the Kardashian shows while doing some late-night channel surfing.

In other words, good luck with that.

Too bad we have to wait another eight days before the bitter rivals can officially take the field against each other next Saturday at the Rose Bowl.

It’s kind of like waiting in line at Magic Mountain to get on the X2 ride, though.

Yes, it’s going to eat up a good chunk time.

But when you’re dangling 20 stories above ground and zooming more than 70 miles per hour through all those heart-stopping twists and turns, you realize the wait was worth it.

So waiting we will do.

After watching Kessler and Agholor and the rest of the Trojan offense cut up Cal, it’s impossible not to imagine how they stack up against a UCLA offense headed by Brett Hundley — who is coming off his best game of the season last week against Washington — not to mention the creative, ball-hawking defense constructed by Jim Mora.

And how about the defensive-mined Mora flipping play cards against offensive-oriented Steve Sarkisian, who is making his USC/UCLA head coaching debut next week?

“I love this rivalry, and it’s so uniquely special,” Sarkisian said. “It divides households. My two older sisters graduated from (UCLA) so I have to keep my eye on them this week.”

It’s a contrast in styles.

It’s two hot teams playing as well as they have all season.

“We’ve got a whole bunch of momentum going on,” Davis said.

It’s USC against UCLA in a season when both still have something significant to play for.

“It just makes the game that much more interesting,” Farmer said.

If only there was a fast-forward button we could push.

I get it, the game lacks national playoff implications. The Bruins and Trojans bungled their chances to finish among the top four teams in the country with a couple of early missteps. But that doesn’t mean a fascinating matchup isn’t looming next Saturday.

Despite the early-season missteps, both teams have enough wiggle room to sneak back into the conference championship race.

It will require winning their remaining conference games and Arizona State and Utah stumbling down the stretch.

Point is, the Bruins and Trojans both have available pathways to the conference title game.

Until next week, anyway.

One team will emerge with some big-time goals still intact. Not to mention firm control of the all-important bragging rights for the next 12 months.

Vincent Bonsignore is an NFL columnist for the Southern California News Group. Having covered the Los Angeles sports scene for more than two decades, Bonsignore has emerged as one of the leading voices on the Los Angeles Rams and Los Angeles Chargers, the NFL and NFL relocation.